Lucknow, Dec. 29: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav stayed away from the Saifai Mahotsav for the fourth day running, as the father-son frost showed no signs of a thaw even after what appeared to be a gesture of conciliation from the older man.

Samajwadi boss Mulayam Singh Yadav yesterday suspended a couple from the ruling party after they decided to take on a candidate chosen by Akhilesh himself.

The suspensions didn't help to heal the rift, at least not yet. Akhilesh remained absent from the Saifai festival - the yearly jamboree at Mulayam's ancestral village in Etawah district - that started on December 26.

The immediate provocation for the strain in ties between the father and son appeared to be the recent suspension of two of Akhilesh's closest aides, apparently with Mulayam's consent.

Samajwadi sources said Akhilesh was angry because his influential uncles, minister Shivpal Singh Yadav and Rajya Sabha member Ram Gopal Yadav, had convinced his father Mulayam to suspend the two, Anand Bhadauria and Sunil Singh Sajan, for alleged anti-party activities.

Yesterday, Mulayam suspended Ruchi Veera, the Samajwadi MLA from Bijnore, and her husband Udayan Veera for alleged anti-party activities.

Known to be close to both Shivpal and Azam Khan, another minister in the state government, Ruchi had announced that her husband would contest a zilla panchayat election against Neelam Paras, whose name Akhilesh had finalised in his capacity as state party chief.

Akhilesh, however, chose to attend a government event today in Agra, 120km from Saifai, where his father kept waiting for him.

Party insiders tried to play down Akhilesh's absence from the festival but Mulayam's demeanour betrayed the tension. The 76-year-old, who didn't come out of his house even when his favourite folk singers performed yesterday, did attend a presentation today but remained expressionless throughout as artistes sang folk songs based on episodes from the epics Mahabharat and the Ramayan.

It was a different Mulayam from the winter of 2011 when the apparently relaxed veteran had asked journalists covering the campaign for the coming elections if they had colour in their lives.

When the reporters, taken aback, only managed a weak smile, the wrestler-turned-politician had concluded: "I can make out that you people don't have any colour in your lives. My life is full of colour."

A family member tried to brush aside suggestions of a rift. "He (Mulayam) is sad because his elder brother Abhay Ram Yadav is unwell," the family source said.

The strain of a rift appeared to be telling on Akhilesh too. In Agra, the chief minister spoke for 20 minutes but, unlike his usual speeches, didn't smile even once.

Shivpal, who was in Lucknow today, claimed Akhilesh would "soon" visit Saifai. "He is busy resolving some political and government-related issues," he said. "It's wrong to say he is angry."